Gilthead sea bream, Sparus aurata
Life cycle
Gilthead sea bream (Dorado, Chipura,
Deniz) is a marine fish and a member of the
Sparidae family. The species is common across
the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea and the
east Atlantic Ocean, inhabiting rocky and sandy
bottoms in shallow waters, usually up to 30
meters depth. These fish are carnivorous, feeding
mostly on shellfish, including mussels and
oysters. They are euryhaline, therefore can
tolerate wide range of salinities. Juveniles are
often found in shallow coastal and brackish
waters, and adults swim toward the deeper
waters to breed.
Spawning season lasts for two-three
months, between October and February
(depends on the location). This species is a
Protandrous Hermaphrodite. Fish mature as
males during their first and second years and
most individuals change their sex to female
between the second to the fourth year of their life.
The fish are iteroparous (will have multiple
spawning cycles after achieving maturity) and
daily spawners. A single female will spawn
between 20,000 to 80,000 eggs per day during its
spawning period. Egg size is approximately 0.9
millimeter in diameter and contains a single oil
droplet. Fertilization occurs in the open waters
and floating eggs are fertilized immediately after
spawning. Incubation period (at 17-18 ˚C) is ~48
hours.
A single yolk-sac larva hatches from
each egg. The larvae feed exclusively on their
stored yolk during the first two-four days post
hatching. After absorbing their yolk sac, larvae
feed on plankton and gradually start feeding on
larger prey.
Aquaculture
Sea bream has been cultured for
centuries across the Mediterranean Sea using
traditional methods as Hosha (Egypt), Esteros
(Spain) and Valliculture (Italy). All methods
depended on stocking of wild “seed” (fry) and
culturing them until harvest. These types of
extensive, captured-based aquaculture
operations were sufficient and managed to supply
the modest demand. This had all changed during
the 1960’s and the 1970’s. The decreasing supply
of wild fingerlings, due to changes in coastal
habitats, pollution, over-fishing, etc., along with
the increasing demand for fingerlings threatened
to destroy the industry. Moreover, more intensive
culture methods could not be developed without
the proper supply of fingerlings. Governmental
research centers that were established across
the Mediterranean started to work on the artificial
propagation of sea bream. Successful results
were reported between the early 70’s to the early
80’s in Israel, France, Italy and Spain. These
breakthroughs led to the establishment of
commercial breeding centers and farming
operations.
Today, sea bream is the most cultured
fish in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the most
important species in Mariculture. Total world
production for 2013 was 173,062 ton (Fig. 1). The
major producers are (tons): Greece (73,330),
Turkey (35,701), Spain (18,897) and Egypt
(14,537). Most of the production (92%) takes
place in sea pens and the rest is produced inland.
Figure 1. Total production of Gilthead sea bream. Numbers
above bars are production in kilo-ton (source: FAO).
Research
First successful breeding trails were
reported in France, Italy and Israel during the
1970’s (Lumare and Villani, 1973; René, 1974).
On 1975 the National Center for Mariculture,
Eilat, Israel, reported successful breeding of
broodstocks brought form Lake Bardawil in Sinai,
and by the late 1970’s full closer of the life cycle
was obtained. Until the early 80’s, full closer of
the species life cycle was also reported from
France, Spain, Italy, Greece and Portugal.
During those early years of
Mediterranean Mariculture, the research effort
was mainly focused on reproduction (Gordin et
al., 1978; Zohar et al., 1978) and larval rearing
(Tandler and Helps, 1985). In the years to come,
studies in the fields of genetics (Knibb, 2000),
pathobiology (Colorni, 1987), nutrition (Kissil et
al., 2001) and engineering (Timmons and
Ebeling, 2010), as well as practical guides (e.g.
Moretti et al., 1999, 2005), provided most
valuable information to support the growing
industry. In addition to the direct research
supporting sea bream mariculture, the species
became an important “laboratory”, or “model” fish.
Sequencing the gonadotrophic hormones
regulating reproduction (Elizur et al., 1996),
endocrinology (Zohar et al., 2010), cryo-
preservation of embryos (Babin et al., 2007) and
recirculated systems (van Rijn, 2006; van Rijn et
al., 2013) are only few examples for studies of
great importance to the development of
mariculture, as well as to other scientific fields.
Advances in sea bream research and culture are
gathered in a book edited by Michail Pavlidis and
Constantinos Mylonas (2011) titled ‘Sparidae:
Biology and aquaculture of gilthead sea bream
and other species’.
References
Babin, P. J., Cerda, J. and Lubzens, E. 2007. The
Fish Oocyte: From Basic Studies to
Biotechnological Application. Dordrecht:
Springer.
Colorni, A. 1987. Biology of Cryptocaryon Irritans
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Elizur, A., Zmora, N., Rosenfeld, H., Meiri, I.,
Hassin, S., Gordin, H., and Zohar. Y. 1996.
Gonadotropins Beta-GtHI and Beta-GtHII
from the Gilthead Seabream, Sparus
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Gordin, H., and Zohar, Y. 1978. Induced
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of Hormonal Treatments. Ann Biol Anim
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Kissil, W. G., Lupatsch, I., Elizur, A., and Zohar,
Y. 2001. Long Photoperiod Delayed
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Moretti, A., Fernandez-Criado, M. P., and
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